Ethiopian immigrants marched through downtown Seattle Tuesday afternoon to protest the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding of projects in Ethiopia. Protesters say humanitarian aid going to Ethiopia is being used to support a brutal regime.
Holding bright green, yellow and red flags, around 200 marchers chanted, ‘America, America, America, listen to the cry of the people,’ and ‘The media doesn’t tell the truth.’

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding 150 development projects, mainly in health and agriculture, to the tune of $50 million U.S. dollars in Ethiopia. In July, Bill Gates met with Ethiopian leaders to talk about continuing working together.

But protester Ashe Nafi Gossaye, chairman of the Ethiopian Public Forum in Seattle, said the humanitarian aid is being abused.

“It is being used for killing people, to buy weapons and for security purposes and to silence the people of Ethiopia,” he said.

In recent months, Ethiopia has been wracked by protests and violence. According to NPR, hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands arrested.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn declared a six-month state of emergency. The people marching in Seattle say, in the past, Ethiopia received positive press coverage for its growing economy and improving such things as infant mortality. But, protesters say those stories ignore the serious human rights abuses.

Protesters also oppose Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the minister of foreign affairs of Ethiopia, being appointed to head the World Health Organization, a job he is in line for.

In an email response to the concerns, the Gates Foundation wrote:

“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is concerned about the recent violence and unrest in Ethiopia and we are monitoring the situation with our partners on the ground. The foundation remains focused on helping reduce poverty in Ethiopia by working with partners to improve the country’s agricultural productivity and health systems.”

A TRUE POLITICIAN’S PRICELESS QUALITIES

PASSION & A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY & PROPORTION.

Max Weber

PRESCIENT WARNING

"The government [Ethiopian] rules in a kind of commando fashion rather than building up strong governance institutions. This leads to a personalization of politics which raises important questions about the long-term sustainability of the current order. Ministers get involved in micro-managing policy – a practice that cannot be continued if the country does move to a higher level of development.

There will be increasing pressures to open the system up, but the ruling party is very reluctant to do so. It recognizes the need for capacity-building as such, but has yet to fully fathom that it will also have to increasingly cede some decision-making to civil society and autonomous actors in it. Western donors seem intent on pointing out that doing so can be of great benefit to Ethiopia as a whole and will help galvanize rather than impede its development."

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QUOTATION FOR THE AGES

"When they [government officials] first came they told us an investor was coming and we would develop the land alongside one another. They didn't say the land would be taken away from us entirely. I don't understand why the government took the land."

Farmer Gemechu Garbaba

His wife adds:

"Since the land was taken away from us we are impoverished. Nothing has gone right for us, since these investors came."